Robert Kuttner

Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, and professor at Brandeis University's Heller School. His latest book is Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? In addition to writing for the Prospect, he writes for The Huffington Post, The Boston Globe, and the New York Review of Books.

Recent Articles

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite FBI Director Robert Mueller listens as he testifies on Capitol Hill S pecial Counsel Robert Mueller is methodically, brilliantly filling in pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When complete, the puzzle will depict a president who is ripe—overripe—for impeachment. Mueller’s indictment on Friday of Russia’s cyber-warfare against the 2016 election was a tactical and investigative masterstroke. President Donald Trump is now cornered. Mueller’s report makes a total liar out of Trump for his repeated claims that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin when Putin says Russia had nothing to do with it, that the hacking could have been “some guy in New Jersey.” The indictments do not quite connect the Russian operation to Putin personally, no serious person believes that an operation as sensitive as deliberate disruption of a U.S. election could go forward without Putin’s full knowledge and support in a state as authoritarian as his. Trump, having repeatedly denied...

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/via AP Images House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell conduct a news conference Q uestion for today: What is the connection between the Republican tax cuts, the rising federal deficit, and the wildly gyrating stock market? The answer is trickier than it seems. Ever since Ronald Reagan, Republicans have relentlessly played the following cynical game. It has three basic moves. One: Cut taxes on the wealthy. Insist that the cuts will not increase the deficit because of the tonic, “supply-side” effect on economic growth. Two: When deficits increase, express shock; discover the menace of the national debt—and cut social spending. Three: Rinse and repeat. This fiscal spin cycle has been performed under Reagan, Bush I, Bush II (twice), and now Trump. The spending cuts typically occur under Democrats, who play the role of Fiscally Responsible Adults in this drama, thus putting Democrats at odds with their own ideology and constituency for...

AP Photo/John Bazemore A supporter of Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Doug Jones reacts during an election-night watch party in Birmingham This article originally appeared at The Huffington Post. Subscribe here . S hould Democrats go all out to energize a “rising electorate” of women, blacks, Latinos, Asians, immigrants, LGBTQ people, and on-the-march young voters? Or should the Democrats go all out to rebuild their shattered reputation as the Party of Roosevelt that cares about the white working class? A great deal has been written by advocates of both views, and many of these articles and speeches have talked right past each other. For instance, advocates of the new rainbow, majority-minority coalition argue that white working-class voters are privileged relative to people of color, and that progressives can win without them, without compromising on race, gender, immigration, and inclusion to pander to a coddled white working class. Conversely, champions of the white-working-...

Laurent Gillieron/Keystone vía AP President Donald Trump about to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland This article originally appeared at The Huffington Post. Subscribe here . I n case there was still any doubt, Davos showed us who Donald Trump really is: a member of the globalist plutocracy. Strip the racism from his nationalist appeal and there is nothing there. It’s camouflage for his service to the global billionaire class from which he comes. The enthusiastic reception of Trump at the annual World Economic Forum in Switzerland also taught us something about the global capitalist elite. As long as Trump embraces their interests, doesn’t urinate on the podium, and reads a canned speech without rude ad-libs, they praise him as a born-again global statesman. Globalist capital doesn’t care if you are a thug, a fraud, or an aspiring dictator, as long as you do their bidding. So much for the idea that the market system and liberal democracy are natural complements...

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland T he annual Davos event has become a gathering of the very people responsible for a perverse version of globalization—one that has undermined the livelihoods of ordinary people—and stimulated a mass nationalistic backlash that has brought to power people like Donald Trump. Will Trump use his speech to bash the plutocrats? Or to make it clear that he is their friend? Will he try to pose as economic nationalist and lecture them on all the ways that bad other countries hurt America? Rhetorically, Trump (“America First!”) is anti-globalization. He is for re-negotiating trade deals that outsource of America jobs, and bringing back American manufacturing. A few of his officials, notably the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, are taking this vow seriously and trying to fashion policies to match. There are, however, three problems. The first is that trade issues are...